Budget Voting: Turnout is usually pretty low in special elections to fill vacant D.C. Council seats. But this April's election could set new records for fewest ballots cast even so—the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics says it can't afford to open all 143 precincts in the city. Facing a $250,000 shortfall, the board is instead proposing to have two polling places per ward, for a total of 16, open for three days. We say just raise taxes to pay for more polling places. No representation without taxation! -4

Books-a-Million: Years ago, city officials in Baltimore—struggling for a motto besides "Heroin and syphilis!"—settled on "The City That Reads." That lofty title has now been usurped by the District. A new ranking by Central Connecticut State University finds D.C. is the nation's most literate city, ahead of Seattle, Minneapolis, and seven others in the top 10. The same study, though, also showed that people everywhere are buying fewer books and newspapers. Which means chances are good you haven't already read about it somewhere else. +2

More than Meets the Eye: Hollywood blockbusters like Transformers 3 tend to set their budgets in tens of millions of dollar increments. So perhaps the movie producers don't think a few thousand dollars worth of car repairs is a big deal. For a cash-strapped city like the District, though, every little bit counts. So news that the crash between a Metropolitan Police Department vehicle and a Transformers car did more than $42,000 in damage isn't exactly welcome. Worse: The accident seems to have been MPD's fault. Maybe the city can sell some popcorn to raise the money to pay the bill. -2

SnowMG: So far this winter, the District has missed big blizzards that dumped on points north. Could tomorrow change all that? Forecasters are calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow, starting in the late morning. Don't expect local TV news to be at all tolerable. Do expect Vince Gray to be a little nervous if more snow arrives than is predicted. -1

Friday's Needle rating: 62 Today's score: -5 Today's Needle rating: 57

Apology Tour: Before Tuesday's election, it was Adrian Fenty trying to convince voters that he was sorry and he'd change. After Tuesday, someone's still doing that sort of thing, only now, it's the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, which has taken to Twitter to apologize for how long it took to count votes. The BOEE says it'll all be better in November. Which is good. Because, you know, everyone is really wondering who will win the November election, in which Republicans will not be running a candidate. -4

Shock and Eww: Protecting our nation's security in the post-9/11 era is a tough job. You've got the wars to manage in Afghanistan and Iraq, alliances to keep up, supply chain logistics to contemplate, and oh, yes, also a lot of child pornography to download. Pentagon officials, embarrassed by Yahoo News reports that they declined to investigate reports that DOD workers were buying child porn, now say they'll try to do better. Which is an improvement on their earlier line: "But if we don't look at child porn, the terrorists win!" +2

SmarTrip Discount Not So Smart: To ease the pain when Metro announced its latest round of fare hikes (complemented, naturally, by increasingly lousy service), the transit agency promised to cut the $5 price for a SmarTrip card in half. Turns out they didn't really mean that. Concerned that scammers will buy $2.50 SmarTrip cards, take a ride that costs more than $2.50, then exit the system (incurring a negative balance) and throw the card away, Metro says the whole "discount" thing is on hold. Admittedly, it's hard to imagine people would actually carry out that complicated scenario en masse. Then again, it's also hard to imagine that 34 years after the subway system opened, there's still no guaranteed funding mechanism in place. -3

Beat Dallas, and Twitter: Turns out Courtland Milloy isn't the only local institution that's suspicious of social media. The Redskins are now threatening to revoke media credentials for any reporters who blog or tweet from the team's practices. The theory, apparently, is that any intel leaking out of Coach Mike Shanahan's practice sessions could give aid and comfort to the enemy (this week, the Houston Texans). Which is almost reasonable. But if the team reverts back to last year's form, don't be surprised if Dan Snyder tries to combine this new anti-Twitter policy with last year's lawsuits against fans, and starts suing people who complain on Twitter about how they play. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 60 Today's score: -7 Today's Needle rating: 53

You Weren't Invited to Michelle Rhee's Wedding: "Glamorous" invitations have been going out by mail lately to the Sacramento social event of the year—the Labor Day weekend wedding of DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. A big suburban real estate developer/Johnson supporter, Angelo K. Tsakopoulos, will host the reception. (Which may prove Rhee's buddy Adrian Fenty isn't the only capital city mayor who's got cronies.) School will have already started two weeks before the wedding; so much for the honeymoon! +3

Board of Elections and Ethics Still Missing One Member: The D.C. Council resisted voting on Mital Gandhi's nomination for a long time, but after today, he may wish they'd kept punting. The council sent Gandhi packing, in a 7-4 vote that means the three-member board may still only have two seats filled by the Sept. 14 primary—which sets up the prospect of a deadlock should any disputes about the election arise. Gandhi, meanwhile, didn't exactly take the news lying down, e-mailing councilmembers afterwards to rant at them. How's that for ethics? -4

Summer Jobs Program Won't Be Extended: After voting against Fenty's nominee to the BOEE, the D.C. Council moved on to voting against Fenty's proposal to extend the city's summer jobs program. This one was even less popular than Gandhi, losing on a 9-2 vote. The move means the District won't have to divert $4.3 million from federal poverty funds to pay for the summer jobs, but it probably mostly means the council wanted to show who was boss. Still, since the city hadn't solved the persistent problem of muggers targeting kids working for the program, Fenty can probably count on a bump in the crime stats. -3

Wale Rediscovers His Inner Seinfeld: Maybe it's all the minor, lame controversies he's endured this year (plus one medium- to major-sized one), or the initially sleepy sales of his major-label debut in 2009, but Wale's trying to recapture some of his blog-rap glory days. That means crafting a sequel to the release that made him D.C.'s Great Rap Hope, The Mixtape About Nothing. More About Nothing promises more of the same, which is actually quite something: If you can you find a working download of the tape, released for free today, you'll find Wale at his best and loosest. He'll be at Commonwealth tonight at 7 p.m. handing out 300 physical copies. +4

Metro Basically Plans to Take Labor Day Weekend Off: Feel like taking the Red line to the eastern side of Montgomery County over Labor Day weekend? Too bad! Metro announced more details today of a massive track work project that will close the Glenmont, Wheaton, Forest Glen, Silver Spring and Takoma stations from 10 p.m. Sept. 3 to 12 a.m. Sept. 6. Delays on that part of the system are so common, though, that riders may or may not even notice the difference between regular, inconsistent service and a total lack of it. -4

Yesterday's Needle rating: 49 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 45

The start of this week was so dour
As many were left without power
Repairs are a farce
And Pepco's an arse
That "storm" was naught more than a shower

The primary has people stressed
So BOEE ran a test
Unless folks all lied
The party divide:
What ice cream, to you, tastes the best

Those City Desk guys I adore
Are giving each day its own score
The needle goes higher
When good things transpire
It shit hits the fan: minus four!

The Archives so rarely make news
But now they've got more to peruse
You like the New Deal
Like really? For real?
Then this stuff, you just can't refuse

Executive director of the D.C. Republican Committee Paul Craney believes the board is the victim of "party politics." Fenty twice nominated Republican Mital Gandhi to the BOEE to occupy a minority seat. Craney believes the D.C. Council hopes to indefinitely stall any Republican occupying the position. So Gandhi sent a curtly worded e-mail to the council today, demanding they vote on his nomination along with West's:

Dear Mr. Chairman and Members of the Council:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• New DYRS chief and fire investigators
• D.C. unemployment drops—a little
• Some people shouldn't own pets

Good morning sweet readers! LL is on high alert today; his mother-in-law is coming to town. Just everybody stay calm, okay?! The news:

Investigate This: The Washington Times' Jeffery Anderson wins the morning with this report about Attorney General Peter Nickles asking the city's inspector general to investigate how a "firm with questionable credentials and limited experience took a majority share in the city's $38 million lottery contract. Citing recent reports in The Washington Times, Mr. Nickles pointed to contracting irregularities, including the addition of local firm Veterans Services Corp. (VSC) to the lottery pact after the city awarded it to Greek gambling giant Intralot. ... Mr. Nickles indirectly attacked D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, saying that the council 'failed to hold a hearing on any of the proposal packages' submitted by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty after a previous contract award to Intralot. Mr. Gray and others thought a local firm that partnered with Intralot was too close to Mr. Fenty. VSC, Intralot's eventual local partner, is headed by a man with ties to several council members, including Mr. Gray." Anderson has raised plenty of questions about the contract in recent weeks; be sure and check out the related articles linked on the right sidebar. Nickles has been saying since June that he's looking into the contracts, which seemed somewhat questionable given his political loyalties, so passing it off to the IG is probably a good move. Fenty brought up the Times' lottery contract work last week during a debate with Gray, as a counterpunch to Gray's charges of cronyism in the Fenty administration.

AFTER THE JUMP: Fenty vs. Post; Sucker job; Bad Speech...

Fenty and the Post: The Post has posted a video of an interview between the mayor and editorial writer Jo-Ann Armao, where Fenty again takes the blame for not getting word out about his good deeds (umm, sound familiar?).  Fenty stresses that he's doing a good job, which is noticable in part by how unnoticeable D.C.'s problems are compared to the past, when "you could see a glaring problem in D.C. government—from trash pick up, to potholes to road repairs to schools being broken down—anywhere you drive in the city." If he gets a next term, Fenty said he'd continue to focus on education, "infuse energy" into fixing public housing, and work with the guvs in Maryland and Virginia on Metro. Not in the 9-minute interview, probably much to the Gray camp's consternation: Any talk of those pesky park contracts.

Wanted, Sucker for Thankless Job: The D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics is hiring after Chairman Errol Arthur quit, reports Freeman Klopott of the Examiner. "The timing of his leaving the board couldn't be worse. Arthur's last day will be Aug. 2, just weeks before the primary that will likely determine the District's next mayor. The three-member board has been running with only two members since February 2009, and if a replacement can't be found quickly, there won't be a board in place to verify the primary votes. In other words, it'll be as if the primary never happened, officials said." (Since LL is new to the beat anyway, why not just start the whole thing over in September?)

Watch What You Say, Not How You Drive: Metro has suspended a veteran employee after she made offensive remarks at a graduation class for bus drivers, reports Kytja Weir in the Examiner. "Ora Crutchfield made statements against elderly people, young black men and Asians during the April 30 graduation ceremony, according to a Metro investigative report obtained by The Washington Examiner. Such events are typically attended by graduates' friends and family members — of all ages and backgrounds."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!: "Mobile speed cameras were posted to a dozen new sites last week, mostly in Southeast Washington, in a move critics say puts the District on track to net $41 million from tickets," reports Kafia Hosh in the Post.

Jonetta sure does hate the D.C. Council [Examiner]

Area unemployment falls; could it be all those top secret dudes? [WBJ]

Does anyone ride these things? [WTOP]

Mayor's schedule: Kelsey Temple, 10:45 a.m.

Yes, Bishop Harry Jackson and the usual suspects filed new papers to day to hold a vote on making "only marriage between a man and a woman...valid and recognized in the District of Columbia."

But then there's this: The Archdiocese of Washington "also submitted a letter to the elections board today calling for a referendum. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl even sent a letter to 300 Catholic priests asking them to get behind the effort."

"It is ironic that at the same time the city is asking for voting representation in the U.S. Congress, its leaders are denying residents the opportunity to participate in the Democratic process for an issue with widespread implications for children and families," sais a statement from Wuerl from Ronald Jackson, executive director of the D.C. Catholic Conference, an organ of the archdiocese.

Reads the order [PDF], signed by both board chair Errol Arthur and member Charles Lowery Jr.:

[I]t is clear that the Referendum’s Proposers would, in contravention of the [Human Rights Act], strip same-sex couples of the rights and responsibilities of marriage that they were afforded by virtue of entering into valid marriages elsewhere....Because the Referendum would authorize discrimination prohibited by the [Human Rights Act], it is not a proper subject for referendum, and may not be accepted by the Board.

More to come.

UPDATE, 4:50 P.M.: The order highlights this section of the Human Rights Act: "it shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for a District government agency or office to limit or refuse to provide any facility, service, program, or benefit to any individual on the basis of an individual's actual or perceived...sexual orientation."

In a twist of the knife, the order notes that when the referendum and initiative laws were introduced to the council in 1978, it was Councilmember Marion Barry who added the amendment barring laws concerning human-rights matters. Barry, of course, was the only vote against the gay marriage recognition law last month.

UPDATE, 5:05 P.M.: The order makes much of the fact that "contrary to times past, there can be, and is, such a thing as a valid same-sex marriage." From there, the order argues that a "broad policy of recognition" demands that the District recognize those marriages.

But if that's the case, why would the council even have to legislate?

The board recognizes the importance of the recognition law in that "it unequivocally declares that the District is a jurisdiction that affords full faith and credit to valid same-sex marriages" and that it is in keeping with a series of council actions to eradicate legal distinctions between heterosexual and homosexual couples. Finally, the new law "effectively adds discrimination against same-sex couples who have entered into valid marriages in other jurisdictions to the list of acts of discrimination prohibited under the [Human Rights Act]."

This is what the order has to say about the landmark Dean v. District case, decided by the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1995 and likely to figure heavily in any future court challenge: '[T]here is now, unlike in 1995 when Dean was decided, such a thing as a valid same-sex marriage....Simply stated, the [recent marriage recognition law] means that the HRA now requires the District government and all public accommodations, inter alia, to refrain from discriminating against same-sex couples who are validly married elsewhere unless the marriage is otherwise prohibited in the District.' Thus, the board rules, Dean is "not controlling.'

UPDATE, 5:15 P.M.: Next steps for the referendum proponents? They have 10 days to petition a Superior Court judge for a writ of mandamus blocking the board's decision, which is given expedited review. In an interview last Wednesday, referendum leader Bishop Harry Jackson vowed to appeal an adverse decision in court.

Pastor Patrick J. Walker of the New Macedonia Baptist Church, one of the proponents, says he is "deeply saddened and disappointed" by the board decision. "Simply put, I feel as a citizen of the District of Columbia, once again we've been disenfranchised. Our right to vote has been taken away, no different than what's happened on Capitol Hill....Now we're doing it ourselves."

Walker took particular issue with the board's reading of Dean: "We just don't believe that in 1995, if it wasn't a human rights violation then, just 15 years ago, how can it be a human rights violation now? The only thing different is a few persons' perception."

UPDATE, 5:35 P.M.: Phil Mendelson, who introduced the marriage-recognition legislation, responds in a statement:

I completely agree with today’s decision of the Board of Elections and Ethics. As I and many others stated when we testified in front of the Board last week, civil rights should not be subject to a referendum. I applaud this decision, as it was based firmly in the tradition of the District’s own progressive Human Rights Act. Recognizing marriages lawfully entered into in other jurisdictions is logical and just. It is unacceptable for government to sanction discrimination on the basis of one’s sexual orientation.

UPDATE, 6:05 P.M.: Board chair Arthur says in a statement, "We understand the sensitivity of this matter and appreciate the large number of citizens and civic organizations who gave input during this process. After giving this matter very careful consideration, the Board feels that our statutory obligation to reject this referendum is clear."

UPDATE, 6:10 P.M.: David Catania, too:

At the time of its passage, the District’s Human Rights Act was one of the most comprehensive statements on equality in the world. For over 30 years, we have endeavored to perfect and expand our understanding of equality....In my opinion, there is no question that the proposed referendum would have the effect of continuing discrimination. As such, I am pleased with the Board’s decision that the proposed referendum is incompatible with District law.

UPDATE, 9:45 P.M.: Here's a statement of the D.C. Catholic Conference, the activist arm of the Archdiocese of Washington:

Today’s announcement by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics to deny a referendum on this issue has once again disenfranchised the residents of our city. The DC Catholic Conference is deeply disappointed by the decision to deny voters a voice....

As part of an organization that serves thousands of children and families throughout this city, it would be our hope that residents be given an opportunity to be heard on an issue with widespread implications for children and families. The DC Catholic Conference will continue to strongly advocate for the long-standing and proper definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

LL and the rest of the city are awaiting the board's decision whether to allow a referendum on recognizing other jurisdictions' same-sex marriages in the District.

The holdup? "Still debating some language," he says.

UPDATE, 4:36 P.M.: The board has released its ruling—the referendum is not allowed. Read more.

Those of you expecting a late-Friday announcement on whether or not a referendum will be allowed on the District law recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages: Don't hold your breath.

"Doesn't look like it's going to be today," McGhie says.

More than 15 witnesses appeared Wednesday before board members Errol Arthur and Charles Lowery, who are charged with determining whether the gay-marriage law is protected from referendum by the District's human-rights laws. In addition to the oral testimony, the members have to consider written arguments from lawyers for referendum proponents, the D.C. Council, and the city.

For a referendum to go forward, both Arthur and Lowery would have to vote in favor. A 1-1 tie would mean a rejection of the referendum.

McGhie says not to expect a decision over the weekend: "It'll probably be Monday."

LL was on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU-FM during election season last fall when Suleman called in to talk about Fairfax's early voting procedures. Seemed like a pretty bright guy!

Suleman's replacing Alice P. Miller, who left BOEE early last year to take a job as chief operating officer of the federal Election Assistance Commission. She's continued to serve as a consultant to the board. Sylvia Goldsberry-Adams had served as interim executive director since, during various controversies about equipment and ballot malfunctions.

Some timing: Suleman might be arriving just in time to oversee a ballot referendum on gay marriage. Unlikely, but maybe. [UPDATE, 1:45 P.M.: He'll be starting in early July.]

The agency has been in the news in a bad way in recent months, for botching vote counts on the night of the District primary in September, then by taking forever to get any results out after the Nov. 4 general election.

The agency's been under the direction of interim executive director Sylvia Goldsberry-Adams since Alice Miller left the board's employ last May to take a job at the federal Elections Assistance Commission.

The requirements: "Advanced degree in policy administration and/or law preferred; work experience in governmental organization(s) and election processes; and comprehensive background in election administration, organizational development, administration and supervision. Applicant should possess the ability to communicate effectively in both oral and written forms."